ALEXANDRE MALVAL HEAD OF DESIGN DAIMLER IN NICE

Alexandre Malval, 48, is to be head of Daimler AG’s new design studio near Nice. He comes from the French manufacturer PSA, where he was head of the entire design department for the Citroën brand.

“We are very pleased to have attracted Alexandre to the Mercedes star. His expertise and talent greatly enhance our international team,” says Gorden Wagener, Chief Design Officer Daimler AG. “With our new design center, we are returning to the origins of our brand in southern France. Mercedes-Benz is the automotive luxury brand which we will develop further, under outstanding conditions, on the Côte d’Azure,” Wagener adds.

With the new centre in France’s “Silicon Valley”, Mercedes-Benz is making a return to one of the birthplaces of the brand. It was in 1899 that Emil Jellinek, a businessman resident in Nice, first took part in car races on the Côte d’Azur under the pseudonym “Monsieur Mercédès”, the first name of his daughter Mercédès. In 1902 Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft (DMG) registered “Mercedes” as a protected trademark.

Mercedes-Benz is adding to its global network of Advanced Design Centres: With its centre in the Sophia Antipolis Science and Technology Park, Mercedes-Benz is strengthening the creative and innovative potential of its global design network, which keeps track of trends around the world while allowing new ideas from different continents and cultures to feed into automotive design. Some 50 designers from every discipline will help to endow the brand and products of Mercedes-Benz with unmistakable and timeless forms. In the new centre, teams from all design disciplines (exterior, interior, advanced and UI/UX design) will be accommodated in an ultra-modern working environment to develop projects of the future for the brands and business units of Daimler AG.